


You Drew Stars Around My Scars

by SlytherinKilljoy



Series: GakuRen Week 2021 [1]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: (Obviously), Angst, Canonical Child Abuse, GakuRen Week 2021, Gen, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, When have you seen Asano Gakushuu and Asano Gakuhou in the same fic without angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29300343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinKilljoy/pseuds/SlytherinKilljoy
Summary: Ren likes poetry and flowers. He’s known to give girls flowers.Gakushu Asano is the first boy he’s given a flower to.But Asano...he’s a form of poetry himself, Ren thinks, One that he wants to learn.Written for GakuRen Week 2021. Day 1: Prompt—Soulmates
Relationships: Asano Gakushuu/Sakakibara Ren
Series: GakuRen Week 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2152011
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60
Collections: GakuRen Works





	You Drew Stars Around My Scars

**Author's Note:**

> Here I come with another fic. Wow, I’m on a roll. I wrote this entire thing in a day. I’ve never written this ship before but they’re pretty cute. It’s just hard to actually characterize Ren but I tried my best to do so. Lemme know what you think.

He wasn’t born a flirt. Ren swears, he used to be utterly uninterested in girls when he was younger.

But he picked it up from his father. His father is a bitter, lonely man. He can’t get a woman to stay with him for longer than a month. 

“You need to learn to socialize, Floren.”

“Dad,” Ren whines, “It’s just Ren. Don’t call me that.”

“Nonsense, boy. Floren is a proper french name. You can use whatever Ren nonsense you want at school, but in this house you’re Floren.” His father repeats for the tenth time. 

Ren rolls his eyes.

“Now, where were we? Ah, yes. Socializing. If you don’t want to become a friendless outcast like your old man, then you gotta get over this shyness and start speaking up, ca va?”

“Ça va.” Ren mutters back.

He can’t help that he’s different from the other kids. He likes poetry and collecting flowers, but the other boys mock him for it.

But soon enough, he realizes how lonely and miserable he is.

He’s becoming like his father.

The thing that holds his father back is his stubbornness. He refuses to give up his principals to conform.

Ren learns quickly enough that there’s no room for stubbornness if he wants friends.

It’s more socially acceptable for him to write poems for girls instead of for himself. He gives the girls flowers he collects, even if it hurts to give it up.

Suddenly, people start seeing him as a huge flirt, and he goes from being the feminine outcast to the popular kid who gets all the girls.

Ren will admit, it did kind of go to his head. He has friends. People like him. He’s not lonely anymore.

But deep down, he feels faker than ever before.

———————————-

Ren is 8 when he first meets Gakushuu Asano. They’re put in the same home room class, and Ren is immediately drawn in by the intelligent boy with pretty eyes.

This is the first time Ren gives a flower to a boy. It’s a freshly plucked violet, wrapped with a gold ribbon around the stem.

He smiles at Asano when he hands it to him, and the other boy smiles back.

“Thank you, Sakakibara.” Asano’s fingers stroke the petals gently, “Want to be my minion?”

Ren is taken aback by that. Minion?

“I don’t want to be your minion.” Ren folds his arms, “You can be my minion.”

“No. You’re my minion.”

“No. You’re mine.”

“Mine.”

“Mine.”

The two of them are close, close enough for their noses to touch, and Ren can smell the scent of vanilla from Asano’s hair.

“Let’s be equals.” Ren says, at last, too en captivated by Asano’s eyes.

Asano is just as breathless as he is, “You can be my right hand man. That’s my final offer.”

“I’ll take it.” 

So that’s how Ren becomes Asano’s right hand man. Asano is brilliant, and Ren can tell right from the start. He’s perfect in every way (except socialization. Asano’s a little blunt when it comes to that, but Ren more than makes up for it.). 

Ren knows Asano is afraid of his father, so he begs his own dad to let Asano sleep over every single night, until the man finally gives in.

“Ça alors! Fine. Your little friend can sleep over this weekend. But you better behave, Floren.”

“Merci, dad.” Ren grins, hugging his dad tight.

When the day of the sleepover finally comes, Ren is bouncing out of his skin.

Asano shows up with a stuffed kitten in one hand and tugging his suitcase in the other. But there’s something strange in his eyes.

“Look after my son, will you, Asano-kun?” Ren’s father says, ruffling Asano’s hair. Asano flinches, but father doesn’t notice, “I have a date tonight, so don’t wait for me.”

“What happened, Asano?” Ren asks, once his father leaves. 

Asano just shakes his head, “It was nothing. Come on, you. should show me your room.”

Ren still has a strange feeling but shrugs it off as he leads Asano into his room. Asano has wide eyes as he stares out at all the toys.

“Whoa. You have a lot of stuff. My room only has books.” Asano says, glumly.

“My dad is pretty rich so he gets me stuff.” Ren kicks a toy car out of his way, “I don’t like any of these toys anyway though. He just buys me the typical toys boys are supposed to like. I’m just not into them, I’d much rather play with girl’s toys. I know, I’m weird, right.” Ren laughs self deprecatingly.

“I don’t think that’s weird.” Asano says, his purple eyes earnest, “It’s different, but not weird.”

Asano tugs on his shirt sleeve, revealing a dark bruise forming on his small wrist.

“I’m the weird one. I’m always messing up so my father punishes me.” Asano’s voice shakes at the end and it makes Ren’s heart lurch.

“That’s not—why? You don’t mess up. You’re perfect. All the time.”

“I’m not perfect enough.” Asano’s voice wracks with a sob.

Ren doesn’t know what to do, not really. But he’s seen his father put ice on his bruises before, so he goes to the freezer and hands Asano some ice for his wrist too.

“Here, this’ll make it feel better. So you don’t need to cry.”

(Ren is too young to understand that Asano wasn’t crying becuase of the pain of the bruise, but because of so much more.)

———————-

As the years go by, Ren and Asano stick together. Like Asano promised, Ren remains his right hand man.

But Asano changes as he grows older. He becomes colder at times, neurotic even. Sometimes he snaps at Ren, and even though he apologizes afterwards, there’s still a tension in their relationship.

Ren’s father is still dating, still bouncing between woman to woman.

And Ren finds himself falling into the same pattern. It’s almost like a game, trying to woo a pretty girl with flowers and poetry, and to eventually have them dump him because he’s too fake for them.

He doesn’t blame them. He’s too fake for himself sometimes.

He’s 11 when he starts vaping, trying to numb the emptiness in his soul with the nicotine.

Asano fights him over it a lot that year.

“You need to quit vaping. I’m telling your father—“

“He already knows. He does it too, so good luck with convincing him not to—“

“Please, Ren. You know it’s bad for you.”

“Really? So now you care? You didn’t seem to care when I was trying to comfort you—“

“Do you really need to bring that up again?”

They argue more than they ever have, and it doesn’t help that both of them are becoming a hormonal mess with the onset of puberty.

They’re 12, graduating from 6th grade when they get their soul marks.

Most kids get their soul mark around 12 or 13, so it isn’t that unusual. But it is still a definite shock to wake up with a letter on his wrist.

Soulmate marks are always the first letter of a person’s name. The name of the person who is the other half of your soul.

Ren has an “A” written in loopy purple ink.

“Dad! Look. I got a soul mark!” Ren shouts, happily.

“Good for you, Floren.” His father says, but he seems markedly unhappy.

“Father, why are you—“

“Floren. Enough.” His father shouts. Ren’s breath hitches.

His father doesn’t shout at him. He never shouts at him.

“Look, son. I’m sorry. Soul marks are a bit of a sensitive subject. I didn’t mean it.” His father apologizes.

But the damage is already done.

Ren runs to his room and sobs.

He hates being this sensitive, but it’s supposed to be a special day for him. He got his soul mark.

And now, it’s ruined.

—————————-

Ren watches as Asano bites his lip, standing in front of the huge gates of Kunugigoaka. It’s much more intimidating than their little elementary school.

But it must be all the more terrifying for Asano, knowing he’s trapped under his father’s watch.

Ren doesn’t try to comfort Asano—he’s learnt the hard way that Asano reacts badly to that. But he forces a smile and tries to distract Asano from their impeding doom.

“Wonder if we’ll meet our soulmates in this class?” Ren ponders.

“I hope not.” Asano grimaces.

Mon dieu. What is it with everyone hating their soulmarks?

Asano hesitates in front of their classroom, despite 1-A clearly being printed on the sign above.

“You got this, Asano. You’ll go in there, rise to the top, and I’ll be right by your side. Right hand man, remember.” Ren places a hand on Gakushu’s shoulder, and they’re the same height right now but Asano seems smaller almost.

Afraid, even if he tries not to show it.

Asano takes a deep breath, pulling up to his full height.

“You’re right. Thank you Ren.”

And with that, Asano pushes the door open, marking the beginning of their journey at Kunugigaoka.

—————————-

The years are hard on the two of them. Asano becomes more and more bitter by the day, and Ren worries for him. He’s not 8 years old anymore, he understands why Asano shows up to school limping after he got a bad score on a test.

(By bad, he means a 92%)

Ren feels numb on the inside. He’s moved from vape to actual cigarettes, something that makes Asano scream at him again.

Ren can’t bring himself to care.

On the day the moon explodes, he just stares at it and laughs.

He laughs until the laughs turn into sobs, the tears blurring his vision.

———————

Third year of junior high is a fucking mess. Asano is running himself into the ground, and all Ren can do is be a good little minion and try to help out the best he can.

All the E-class dumbasses keep getting on Ren’s nerves. Why can’t they just back off and just stick to the status quo? Like seriously, this isn’t high school musical. This is real life. No action comes without consequences.

And Ren can see the consequences written across Asano’s face.

The day after the first semester finals—the day when 3-A loses horribly to 3-E, and when Asano shows up with long sleeves—it’s summer. There’s only one reason he’s wearing long sleeves—Ren and Asano get drunk.

Ren steals some of his father’s liquor and the two of them drink away their misery.

“Read me one of your poems, Ren.” Asano says, setting down his cup,“I’ve always liked your poems.”

Ren laughs, and his laugh is too loud, “I stopped writing them. It was stupid anyway.”

But then Asano reaches for him, his fingers grabbing onto Ren’s collar.

“You should keep writing. It was never stupid.”

Ren feels his heart beat faster, though he doesn’t know why.

“And the flowers. Remember when you gave me that violet back when we were eight? Why don’t you give me flowers anymore.” Asano’s head rests on Ren’s shoulder, and it makes a strange feeling run through Ren’s spine.

He didn’t know Asano still remembers their first meeting.

“People would call me gay if I did that now.” Ren says, trying to be the voice of reason. He’s tipsy, sure, but he’s not as much of a lightweight as Asano.

“I don’t give a fuck. I wish you were my soulmate, Ren.” 

Ren feels the walls cave in.

His heart is pounding loudly against his ears.

“What?” He whispers.

Asano pulls down his wrist—it’s bruised, which makes it hard to look at, but under the bruises, one thing is clear.

It’s a green “F”.

“I wished for years that you would be mine, but I didn’t get an R. I got an F.” Asano’s voice breaks, and it sounds like he’s about to cry.

Suddenly, the purple G on his wrist makes sense.

“Asano, you don’t understand—“

“No. No. I can’t. Don’t. I can’t handle a rejection right now—forget I said anything, okay—“

“Asano—“

But then the alcohol hits him, and Ren forgets what he was about to say—-

He wakes up with a hangover and the events of last night seem hazy, almost like he dreamed it all.

In fact, Asano is so silent about the whole thing that Ren is convinced it was a dream.

There’s no way Asano and him are soulmates. Despite how much Ren would want that—

No. No point of thinking of things like that.

It’s hopeless, anyway.

Ren takes another drag of his cigarette and tries to push the words that echo in his head.

“ _ I wish you were my soulmate.” _

_ ————————- _

“You can’t do this Asano. You’re injured.” Ren hisses at Asano as they walk out on the field. Asano is trying really hard not to limp, but Ren can see it. He knows Asano too well not to know how he walks after a beating.

“I was the one who suggested the pole toppling. I have to do this.”

“Your health is more important. Please, Asano. Sit this one out. I don’t want you getting hurt.” Ren pleads.

Asano does look really bad. He’s pale and his teeth are clenched through the pain.

“I want to win. I need to win.” Asano’s eyes are filled with a scary intensity that might have made a lesser man flinch.

Ren doesn’t even blink.

“All right. We’re going to win. But I’ll be your shield, alright?”

“Ren—“

“I’m not your minion, Asano. I’m your right hand man, remember. You can lean on me.”

At last, Asano swallows, nodding his head.

“You better not let me down, Ren.”

——————————-

Ren touches his wrist bone as he stands in formation. Reminding himself of why he has to win.

He needs to do this. For Asano.

The games begin, and both sides charge.

Ren sticks with Asano, leaving him enough room to maneuver but close enough to help fight off their opponents.

When the E class kids pull that clever trick and charge at Asano’s pole, Ren stands strong,

“Ren, get out of the way. I can handle them.” Asano shouts.

Ren doesn’t move.

“I can take them. We need you to give the rest of the team orders. You’re too valuable, Asano.”

“Ren—“

“Please. Trust my decision.” Ren says, before throwing himself into the onslaught.

Ren isn’t as good of a fighter as Asano, but he’s running on pure adrenaline and desperation.

The other team is just as desperate to win, but Ren has more than just desperation.

He needs to win, because of the person he loves.

He loves Asano.

It’s strange to have that relevation in the middle of a fight. But that’s how it happens. As he’s balancing on the pole and kicking away opponents at the same time, with Asano settled above him, Ren realizes.

He loves him.

He has for a long time. 

He can’t bring him a flower today, but he can bring him this victory. 

He’s actually doing really well, managing to keep them at bay. He almost breaks out in a grin when all of a sudden—

He collapses to the ground, coughing hard. He can’t breath.

“Ren? Ren are you alright?” He hears Asano call out from above.

He wants to tell him he’s fine but he’s struggling to get air in his lungs.

Then he looks up to see Asano—jumping off the pole?

“What are you doing?” Ren manages to wheeze out, as Asano lands on the ground in front of him and the pole topples down to the ground.

“Fuck the pole toppling. You matter more. Can you take a deep breath?” Asano helps him get through his respiratory fit, but he’s painfully conscious of all the people watching them.

Asano Gakushu just willingly gave up the fight just so he could make sure his friend was alright.

That is not something anyone ever expected to happen.

“This is what I was worried about, Ren. You really need to stop smoking.” Asano’s eyes are scared, and that’s the only thing that makes Ren agree.

“I’ll quit. I promise.” He whispers.

And then they walk off the field together, as the announcer declares E class to have won.

None of them seem happy about that.

Especially when Asano, him, and the exchange students are called up to the principal’s office.

That puts the fear back in Asano’s posture.

“I wouldn’t care if it was just me, but...since it’s you. I want to take a few precautions.” Asano says, biting his lip, “Teppei. I need you to do something for me.”

Asano doesn’t specify what he got Teppei to do, and Ren doesn’t know since the two of them went off on their own to talk.

But when they walk into the Principal’s office together, Asano seems calm on the outside.

Too calm, in fact.

—————————-

Araki is assigned an important task, one that makes him a bit worried, in fact. He’s been told to use his camera to record the ongoing inside the office through the crack in the door.

It’s a bit difficult, but Araki has a high tech enough camera that he manages to do it.

What he records though, makes a chill go down his spine.

The Principal is sitting at his desk, berating Asano for his leadership.

Ren is silent, keeping his head down, but glaring heavily at the Principal.

Kevin is the one to speak up.

Ren and Asano immediately try to hush him, but the damage is done. It’s too late.

Araki stares in horror as the Principal beats up the exchange students. Asano is visibly trembling, clutching onto Ren’s shoulder.

When the Principal is done breaking bones, he turns to Asano and Ren.

“You two seem awfully close, don’t you? I did wonder why, for the longest time, but I know now. I’ve seen the G on your wrist and the F on his.”

“What are you talking about?” Asano demands, his voice shaky. Ren is tense.

“You don’t know? How funny. It seems your dear Ren has an idea though. Or should I call you by your full name? Floren?”

Time seems to freeze for a moment as Asano turns to Ren questioningly.

“It’s true, Asano. I’m your soulmate.”

“There you have it. Ren was only helping you becuase he wanted to protect his property. His soulmate. He has no actual care for you. How foolish of you to throw the entire contest for him. Not to worry. I’m sure I can teach you a lesson—“

The Principal slams his hand against the wall by Asano’s head, and he flinches.

“Don’t hurt him.” Ren stands up on shaky feet, stepping between the two of them, “You already injured him last night, can’t you see how he’s limping. Don’t hurt him anymore. I won’t let you.”

“You won’t let me? But I doubt Asano-kun wants you to protect him in the first place. Now that he knows how you were using him.”

“He was never using me.” Asano speaks up, his voice frail, but the words strong, “He gave me flowers when we were 8. He helped me ice the bruises you gave me. If you’re trying to manipulate me, then you’ll have to try a little harder,  _ father _ . I love Ren.”

Smack—

The sound of the Principal’s fist making contact with Ren’s jaw echoes through the room.

The Principal’s eyes widen when he realizes what just happened.

Ren stepped in front of Asano and took the blow meant for him.

————————————

Araki doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do with the video. He could hand it to one of the teachers but he doubts they’d have the guts to do much. The Principal has them all wrapped around his finger.

So Araki takes a bit of a leap of faith, and walks up to Isogai Yuuma.

“Can I help you, Teppei-san?” Isogai asks, polite as always.

“Theoretically, if the Principal just brutally assaulted five exchange students, and is abusing his own son, do you think your teacher would be able to help?”

Isogai’s eyes widen. 

“This isn’t theoretical, is it?”

Oh, how Araki wishes it was.

————————————-

Ren is stuck in the center of all the chaos, watching it go down. His father hugs him tight when he’s called in by the police, and gently strokes the bruise on his jaw.

“I was so worried, Floren. I’m so glad you’re alright. I heard what that jerk of a principal did.” Ren’s father is far from perfect. But he’s here for him.

And that’s what’s important.

So Ren hugs him back.

But the one who’s truly on his mind is Asano.

“Here. Take this, father. I won’t be needing these anymore.” Ren shoves his cigarettes and lighter at his father.

For a moment, he longs for a smoke, before he turns away.

He’s not doing that anymore. It’s time to move on.

There’s police officers and paramedics all around—there’s even a yellow octopus being involved in the case somehow.

But Ren barely gives that a second glance.

“Asano.” He breathes, once he finally finds the boy.

Asano looks tired, and his eyes are red and puffy.

But when Ren reaches for his hand, Asano lets him squeeze it tight.

“So. Floren, is it. That’s a pretty name.” Asano says, offering him a small smile.

“I know. Thank you. It was a birthday gift from my parents.” Ren deadpans, “How you holding up?”

Asano lowers his eyes.

“I really don’t know.” He exhales.

“Well, I hope you remember that I’m here for you. As your right hand man. And soulmate.” Speaking those words out loud is something he never thought he’d be able to do.

“I wanted to thank you, you know?” Asano says, “You really have always been there for me. So I got you this.”

Asano holds out a red rose, with a silver ribbon wrapped around the stem.

(And suddenly, it’s like they’re 8 years old again, meeting for the first time, falling in love all over again.)


End file.
